Monday, July 25, 2022

CTV: One dead, three injured at Polymer Source in Montreal

Via CTV: 

An explosion at a polymer research centre Friday in the Montreal suburb of Dorval left one dead and at least three injured. 

Paramedics received a 911 call at around 11:30 a.m. for a report of an explosion. They said a 40-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were sent to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. A third worker who was injured refused to be sent to hospital. 

The explosion happened at the Polymer Source, a company that describes itself as a supplier of high-quality polymers and bio-polymers for academic and pharmaceutical and industrial research.

Three teams of paramedics responded to the scene. Firefighters were also on site. 

Reaction on Twitter indicates that this is a well-known source of research material. Condolences to the families and friends of those killed and injured. 

3 comments:

  1. I wonder if the explosion was due to work with ethylene oxide - that stuff is nasty, it burns even without oxygen. Polymer Source was manufacturing PEGs/PEOs

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    1. Rohm & Haas divested the Triton surfactant line to Dow many years ago (long before Dow acquired the rest of R&H) for exactly this reason. Too much risk of something going wrong.

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    2. thermal runaway with EO polymerization can turn deadly, especially after the polymerization was previously done hundred times "safely" without a problem, by some unanticipated quirk or equipment malfunction or a small change in the setup

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20